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Where possible, have as few electrical items switched on as possible when you start a car or bike.

You want to do this any way, as if the battery is a bit low, the load can drain it rapidly and you may not start the engine, but in any case you will require more recharge cycles, which will reduce its life.

Additionally, if the current drawn is too high you can start to cause chemical changes in the battery which may also shorten its life.

+1 for reducing current draw. This is why some motorcycles (and all cars I've ever seen) use load-shedding relays to turn off accessories when the starter is engaged. The corollary to this, of course, is that if the bike in question uses such a load-shedding relay, it doesn't matter whether you switch the headlight on (immediately) before pressing the starter button or after.
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macDec 18 '12 at 14:35

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Standard procedure for starting an airplane is to turn on the beacon light (as a warning to anyone near the airplane) before starting. However, in cold weather that's not done, sometimes even that little extra draw can make the difference between the starter pushing the prop over the hump or not.
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Brian KnoblauchDec 18 '12 at 14:51

I am so sorry. I cannot mark it as the accepted answer until you can show me the technical proof.
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kiss my armpitDec 21 '12 at 15:25

Not sure what proof you want, dude - that's just the way it is :-)
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Rory AlsopDec 21 '12 at 16:16

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References should be unnecessary, and likely won't exist, when you're talking about something so elementary. It's like asking for a reference to show that 2+2=4. Taken with the important caveat about load shedding relays, this simply is the way things are. If you want to know more, get a chemistry textbook and learn enough electrochemistry so that you can see how elementary this is.
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Colin KDec 24 '12 at 18:19